Healthcare Design - August 2016 - 34

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MANY DESIGN FIRMS across the country say that
some of their most innovative work comes when
working with academic medical center clients. "Often
they're pioneers in specialty services and research,"
says Omri Kenneth Webb, associate principal and
senior vice president at HKS (Washington, D.C.). "This
manifests itself into the design of new facilities and
specialty rooms."
Mike Pukszta, principal and healthcare practice
leader at CannonDesign (St. Louis), says while nonacademic clients usually want to see examples of
designs in other facilities before they'll give the green
light, academic clients are more willing to be early
adopters and consider new approaches. "They love
to engage in that dialogue," he says. "They're usually
thinking very forward."
That mindset has helped guide these organizations for decades as they've built reputations on a
tripartite mission to deliver research, teaching, and
care on large, established campuses where patients
seek treatment for some of the most complex cases,
including tertiary and quaternary care. So when the
Affordable Care Act began shifting healthcare's focus
to improving population health, driving down costs,
and restructuring payment systems, these academic
facilities had to apply their forward-thinking nature
to reassessing what they do and the services they
provide, Pukszta says. "They've always been evolving, but that probably was the single moment that
said academic medical centers are going to have to
change," he says.
Part of that relates to the inherent inefficiencies
associated with such complex organizations. "Having
learners with you slows down the process, there's
no question about it," Pukszta says. There's also the
fact that many on staff are specialists in their fields,
drawing complicated cases involving lots of diagnostics and consultations with subspecialists. Additionally, clinicians may be involved in research as well
as academics, meaning they're spending their days
traveling across campus to multiple buildings. "All of
those things start to collide within a system that isn't
necessarily built for speed or lowest cost," he says.
To address these realities and remain competitive
for the future, academic medical centers are turning

HCDmagazine.com 08.16

to healthcare architects and designers to help
them update their physical environments, address
operational efficiencies, and expand into new
markets beyond acute care. "They're trying to become known as the provider of choice no matter
what the disease or need," Pukszta says.
Branching out
This evolution is driving a variety of projects, including new bed towers rising on existing academic
medical center campuses to meet growing patient
volumes, as well as new ambulatory care facilities-both on and off campus-to bring care closer
to patients and fuel growth. Some facilities, such as
Cleveland Clinic and Milwaukee-based Froedtert &
MCW Froedtert Hospital, are forming alliances to
create referral networks and share best practices in
patient care and clinical research. The University of
Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center opened
the William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in
2014 and today is developing an ambulatory center
north of the Dallas metroplex to serve patients
closer to home and refer them back to the main
campus for more complex needs. "Academic
medical centers used to be isolated to their main
campus and now they're branching out," says Mike
Hoffmeyer, senior associate vice president at CallisonRTKL (Dallas), which worked with UT on the
hospital project.
At the same time, academic medical centers are
also updating and maintaining their existing facilities, making sure they reflect today's standards for
patient care, family involvement, multidisciplinary
care teams, and new teaching methods. When

Above: UC San Diego Jacobs
Medical Center is adding a
patient bed tower in 2016.
Working with CannonDesign,
the facility is designed as three
hospitals in one, including
women and infants, cancer
care, and specialty surgery
services. Previous pages:
Academic medical centers
are rethinking staff areas by
adding open work spaces
and lounges, such as this
three-story lounge at the
University of Minnesota Health
Clinics and Surgery Center
in Minneapolis (designed
by CannonDesign), that are
designed to foster interaction
and connectivity among
clinicians, researchers,
and academic staff.

COURTESY OF YAZDANI STUDIO OF CANNONDESIGN

ACADEM

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Healthcare Design - August 2016

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